Gaddafi's response to London conference

Muammar Gaddafi told the London conference discussing Libya's future without him that there was no room for compromise with the Benghazi-based rebels, whom he described bluntly as al-Qaida terrorists supported by Nato and representing no one.

Far from showing any sign of bending to demands from Barack Obama, David Cameron and other world leaders that he step down, Gaddafi issued a characteristically defiant challenge to what he called a "new crusader strategy or imperialist plan".

But three powerful explosions that shook Tripoli in mid-afternoon - apparently the first daylight attack in 10 days of UN-mandated air strikes - seemed to presage a possible escalation of the conflict. Libyan officials made no comment.

In another dramatic development, there was speculation yesterday that Gaddafi's foreign minister, Mousa Kousa, might have defected during a visit to Tunisia.

The Libyan leader warned that the UN-imposed no-fly zone would turn north Africa into "a second Afghanistan" in an extraordinary letter sent to the European Parliament, the US Congress and "the Europeans" meeting in London.

"Stop your barbaric and unjust offensive against Libya," he wrote. "Leave Libya for the Libyans. You are carrying out an operation to exterminate a peaceful people and destroy a developing country. We are united behind the leadership of the revolution, facing the terrorism of al-Qaida on the one hand and on the other hand terrorism by Nato, which now directly supports al-Qaida."

The full text shows the Libyan leader to be baffled by the ingratitude of the world towards him after years of rapprochement and dismissive of concerns about the use of violence against his own people.

Gaddafi argued that there was no need for foreign intervention, that Libya's "direct democracy" had no parallel and that its oil resources were the property of the its people - a reference to the widespread perception among his supporters that the war is a conspiracy to divide the country and steal its natural resources.

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Libya has made every effort to help solve global problems, abandoned its weapons of mass destruction, helped the international effort to fight "extremist terrorism", controlled illegal immigration to Europe and played a positive role in Africa. "There were no demonstrations in Libya or protests like in Tunisia and Egypt," he claimed.

"No one opened fire on demonstrators. No more than 150 people were killed and most of those were soldiers and policemen who were defending themselves." He attacked a "deliberately fabricated image" of Libya to justify the "second crusader war", accusing the coalition of committing "merciless massacres".

Kousa, intriguingly, chose the eve of the London conference to pay what was described as a private visit to neighbouring Tunisia. Tunisian sources said Kousa left later for an unknown destination. Kousa's status as veteran Gaddafi stalwart and former intelligence and security chief provoked speculation that he may have followed diplomats who quit en masse in the first days of the uprising. If he has, it would be a grave blow to the regime

Kousa's deputy, Khaled Kaim, accused the allies of seeking to partition Libya. "The tactic of the coalition is to lead to a stalemate to cut the country in two, which means the civil war is a continuous war, the start of a new Somalia, a very dangerous situation," he told Italy's Rai Uno TV channel.

"If we are led to a civil war, resolution 1973, which was meant to protect civilians, will on the contrary lead to the murder of civilians." UN resolution 1973, passed earlier this month, authorised "all necessary measures" to protect civilians.

State-run media are continuing to highlight the human toll of the allied attacks, including 12 the regime claims were killed in Sebha, on the edge of the Sahara, when Nato planes hit an ammunition dump.